Attorney Says There's No Evidence to Tie Teen to Murder of Paramedic

The defense lawyer for a teenager who’s accused of murder for the shooting death of an off-duty paramedic in the Oakland hills two years ago told jurors today that he should be found not guilty because there’s no direct evidence that ties him to the crime.

In his closing argument in the trial of Christian Burton and co-defendant David McNeal, defense attorney Ernie Castillo alleged that the only thing that connects Burton to the fatal shooting of 34-year-old Quinn Boyer on Keller Avenue just below Skyline Boulevard just before noon on April 2 is statements by other teens who were involved in the crime and he said those statements are unreliable.

Castillo said, “The only consistency we have with these kids is their inconsistencies, their lies.” Referring to the fact that three of the teens pleaded guilty to murder in juvenile court for being accessories to the shooting of Boyer and a fourth pleaded guilty in adult court to a carjacking charge, Castillo said, “They’re liars, they’re criminals.”

Burton admitted in a videotaped interview with Oakland police several weeks after the shooting that he shot Boyer but said it was an accident and he didn’t think the gun was loaded.

However, Castillo said Burton, who is now 18 and is being prosecuted as an adult, as is McNeal, made his confession only after police employed deceptive interrogation techniques with him and said he’s “a 16-year-old kid who admitted to something he didn’t do.”

In addition, Castillo said the woman who was the only eyewitness to the shooting provided a description of the shooter that matches the clothes worn by one of the other teens, Nazhee Flowers, that day, not those worn by Burton.

Boyer, a Santa Clara County paramedic who lived in Dublin and had been married for less than a year, crashed his car down a ravine in the 5200 block of Keller Avenue after he was shot and died two days later of a single gunshot wound to his head. Boyer grew up in Oakland and had been in the city that day to take his father to a medical appointment.

A large group of his family friends attended the closing arguments Wednesday and today. Prosecutor Glenn Kim said Burton, McNeal and the four other teens were supposed to be in school the day of the shooting but instead were involved in a crime spree that included several carjackings and a robbery in addition to the shooting. Kim said that about an hour before Boyer was shot the six teens had begun their crime spree by stealing a gold Dodge Intrepid at gunpoint from a man outside the Island Market on High Street in East Oakland.

But as the teens drove away in the Dodge Intrepid, they decided it was too cramped so they planned to carjack a bigger vehicle He said they followed a female driver on Keller Avenue as a possible target but then saw Boyer, who had pulled over to the side of the road to respond to a text message on his cellphone, and decided that he would be a convenient victim. Kim said Burton and one of the other teens, Nazhee Flowers, got out of the stolen Dodge Intrepid and Burton shot Boyer, Kim said.

Responding to Castillo’s arguments, Kim told jurors that they should believe the incriminating statements that the other teens made about Burton being the shooter because they’re corroborated by the physical and ballistics evidence in the case.

Kim said that although Castillo sought to distance Burton from the other teens and described the others as “depraved,” Burton was in the middle of what he described as “that pack of wolves” and was equally depraved.

Kim said the eyewitness’s account of the shooting incident wasn’t perfect because she was traumatized by witnessing the crime and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. But the prosecutor said he believes she got one detail right in that she said the shooter was left-handed.

Kim said Burton was the only left-handed person in the group of teens and Flowers, who is now 18 and is serving a 15-year term in state prison for his plea in adult court to a carjacking charge, and the other teens are all right-handed. Kim also said Burton’s confession to police is believable because the details he provided are supported by the evidence in the case.

He said, “There was no false confession.”

Kim said that although McNeal didn’t shoot Boyer, he should be found guilty of murder because he played an active part in the shooting by supplying the gun that Burton used. Kim said that in addition to murder, McNeal should be convicted of carjacking for two incidents on the day that Boyer was shot as well as assault and robbery for shooting a 13-year-old boy in East Oakland the following day and stealing the boy’s hat.

But McNeal’s lawyer, David Bryden, said McNeal should be found not guilty of murder because he didn’t shoot Boyer, never spoke to Boyer, didn’t help the shooter and didn’t drive the getaway car. Bryden said the reason McNeal participated in the other crimes is that he was pressured by the other teens. Jurors will begin deliberating on Tuesday morning.

Related:

• Prosecutor Says Two Teens Should be Convicted of Murdering Paramedic

By Bay City News

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